Hi
My first post so be gentle!
I have recently agreed to purchase a used BMW from a main dealer. The screen price was £23,384. The dealer valued my old Golf GTi at £4,000. Leaving a balance of £19,384
I phoned back next day and made an offer. My car and £19K. This was accepted and they took a £1,000 deposit over the phone.
Told a mate of mine at the pub that night and he offered to buy my car off me for £4,700.
I called the dealer back the next day and asked if that was ok. He said it made no difference if he had the car or the money, so did the deal with my mate for £4,700 and sold my car..... with me so far....?
I spoke to the dealer on the phone today to confirm the delivery date etc and I mentioned paying the balance of £22K.....
"No sir... the balance is £22,384!"
He says that when we did the deal he had allowed me a better price on the PX and hadn't reduced the price of the car I'm buying.....
I guess legally he has me over a barrel since we didn't specifically agree if the purchase price, or the PX price was to be changed to get the balance of £19K in the original deal. He now has a £1,000 deposit, although I haven't signed anything.....
I can see this from his point of view too... he had perhaps given me a slightly low price for the PX, and he won't make this back now.
I know that as a percentage of the purchase price I'm arguing over buttons..... but £384 is £384.... and better in my pocket than his....
I think he should at least meet me half way......
My question is.... am I being unreasonable.... should I accept this, or fight....
I can't decide
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Simple,walk away. Just ask for your deposit back and go to another dealer and buy another,probably cheaper, BMW making sure you get a discount for cash!
P.S. £23384 seems a strange figure,usually prices end in a £995.
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I've no idea of the rights and wrongs of this but recent experience of buying from a dealer (both me and a pal, in the last week) indicates that screen price is usually only their starting place for negotiation, and they don't seem to have any expectation of getting it. It could well be different in your league of car though.
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I don't think you can ask for the deposit back - that's the whole point of a deposit, isn't it?
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I thought a deposit was in case you reneged on the deal.
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The dealer offered you £4000 for your Golf.
Your mate bought your Golf off you for £4700
The dealer now wants an extra £384 off of you.
You are however £316 up on the deal.
£316 more than if you had traded the car in.
I take it the car you're buying will have a years VED on it? If not, then push for that, and accept it.
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Oh dear spameggandchips, seems like you've got a lot on your plate.
I'm a dealer and I can tell you that if you haven't signed the order form the dealer hasn't got a leg to stand on. Write to them and give them the choice to honour the deal, refund the deposit, or deal with the office of fair trading.
They will back down.
Let us know how you get on.
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Thanks for all your replys. As I said, I can see it from the dealers point of view too. I think the trade price for my car is £4,150, so in a way I can understand the point that he undervalued my car.
Seems odd that he instantly agreed to add 10% to the value of my car, but is not happy at giving me less than 2% discount from the BMW.
The reason for the odd price I'm told, it that it is already a discounted price!
I will call him back today and let you know what happened!!!!
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A BMW dealer is not really interested in a £4,000 car - he had a trade buyer for it, in all probability and he was going to get something more than £4,000 for it. Si incharging you £300 more he is getting his profit in £££s back to what the agreed deal was.
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a contract is a contract whether on the phone or on a sheet of paper,if i had your grand and i could sell the car easilly i might just offer you £500 back and use the rest to cover my time and wasted advertising,if i was desperate for a sale and i needed your money i might consider taking you to court for a broken contract (only kidding but you know what i mean)
sorry........................
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seems silly for the dealer to wind you up over £384 from a £23,000 sale.... when you might consider buying another one in the future and want it serviced etc...........there's still a profit in it........ where's the goodwill or doesn't anyone bother nowadays
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OK, a deal is a deal, but in this case is it sufficiently broken by the change from p/x to no p/x to allow our new friend to walk away?
Surely if the car's worth £4000 in p/x then it's OK to simply take in £4000 instead?
It's pretty hard to imagime that if he's walked in with cash in the first place, he wouldn't have been able to get £384 discount.
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Hmm, I think I'd start pulling some levers - like reminding him that a satisfied customer is likely to return for his future servicing and maintenance business but a dissatisfied one will most certainly go elsewhere !
Good Luck
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A contract is based on agreement and in this case it's clear that spam thought 1 cost to change, the dealer another. A contract lawyer will tell you the two parties are not 'ad idem' - ie of the same mind in terms of the money to change hands.
Remeber, the dealer will have around £1500 across the car, but is trying to extract another £384 to help with his huge September target. Send a letter to show you are serious, and watch as they back down.
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BMW dealer? They wont back down! They can sell their cars all day long at the price on the screen because the marketing has been so good the cars sell themselves. They proudly state we dont discount our cars, we dont have to.
You agreed a deal, but then changed the terms; you wont get far in court Im afraid, so i doubt if they will refund the deposit.
For the money involved I would suggest haggling on discount at next service or ved etc.
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The dealer may already have a customer for his trade in at for eg £4500 so his margin is being cut even more to his original deal.
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No expert but can you quote the "distance selling regulations" (as you did the deal over the phone) and use that as a lever??
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No expert but can you quote the "distance selling regulations" (as you did the deal over the phone) and use that as a lever??
yes this is correct so the dealer has an excellant chance of winning his case at court then ,thanks nozmeister i forgot about this newish law.........
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